Escapism
by melsother
Summary: She wanted to go home and forget about her problems, forget about the Fischer job and most importantly, forget about him. And just when she's about to forget, he shows up, bringing back a rush of memories.  A/A. Not the greatest summary but it will do.
1. Chapter 1

**Escapism.**

_Disclaimer- it saddens me to say this but Inception does not belong to me. It belongs to Christopher Nolan. You know what, Nolan can keep Inception. I want my own Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And if that's not possible, then I'd take Ellen Page, thanks._

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Light streamed in through the small plane window, temporarily blinding her as her eyes fluttered open. Had she pulled the window shade up before she went to sleep or had someone else done it for her? She doesn't remember. Even though she had stepped in to the aircraft no more than only thirteen hours ago, it seemed as though it was light years away. Her first instinct was to grab her totem and test it out. She patted her pockets frantically, only to find that it had fallen out and that she was sitting it all along. With a sigh of relief, she grabbed it and pulled out the in-flight tray table. A wave of contentment rushed through her when she heard the dull thud of the metal hitting the plastic table. She tested it out a few more times before she was satisfied.

Unfortunately, her satisfaction was short lived as she looked around 747 first class cabin. Cobb and Saito's bodies were still limp and their eyes were still firmly shut, meaning that they were still down under. What if they never woke up? Then what? After all, it was her fault that Cobb went down… if she hadn't told him that there was another way, then maybe he would be awake by now. Then again, that would mean having Fischer and Saito stuck in limbo forever, which would basically terminate the whole reason and purpose for taking the job. Plus, she could never live with the guilt of turning two men's brains in to mush.

She sank low on to her seat and breathed in deeply. This proved to be a bad decision- the air smelt of wet carpet. Suddenly, the smell of soap and peppermint toothpaste wafted out from behind. _Arthur. _It astounded her that even after thirteen hours on a plane, the point man could still smell so…clean and fresh.

"You okay?" Arthur's voice was gravelly from lack of use in the past 13 hours or so, but the concern and worry was still very evident.

"I'm fine." She replied unconvincingly.

Arthur craned his neck in order to see her face. He took one look at her sickly pallor and cocked an eyebrow. "Do you know that's the most common lie told?"

She gave him a half hearted smile and rolled her eyes but before she could say anything, she heard a rustle of silk and immediately whipped her head to the right to see Cobb sitting up and looking dazed. She relaxed and sunk deeper in to her chair as she heard the familiar key sound of an in-flight phone.

**-pointmanarchitect-**

Perhaps it was naïve and foolish of her to wish for a proper goodbye. All she wanted was a hug. Hell, even a pat on her head would suffice. They had spent weeks, even months together and yet, they all left without an actual farewell. She sipped her green tea quietly as she watched her team members leave one by one without more than a furtive glance and a ghost of a smile, except for… Arthur.

He was nowhere to be seen, it seemed as though he had disappeared in to thin air. This confused Ariadne very much- how could a man with a face like his blend so easily in to the crowd?

Little did she know that Arthur was watching her every move. He watched as she haphazardly gathered her things. He watched as she cursed to herself when she dropped her long white scrolls of architectural plans. He really wanted to step out from his hiding place to help her hold her bags, to accidently brush his hand against hers. He also very quickly, shook away those thoughts. It was his job to restrain himself, tie in the loose ends, to make the calls and to make sure that she was safe.

She had nowhere to go. Sure, she had enough money to travel around the world but what's the point? She could build things in dreams that would beat and surpass anything she saw in real life. There was really no point in studying architecture anymore, not when she got the taste of playing God. Everything in comparison seemed dull, monotonous even but where else could she go?

Paris was the only place for her. She needed to finish her degree, get a low-paying job in a company and work her way up, just like she had planned before… everything happened.

Tucking the long white rolls of paper under her arm, she rolled her suitcase over to the counter for Airfrance. A pretty blonde woman stood behind the counter with a big, fake grin.

"How may I help you?" she asked in a overly-enthusiastic tone of voice.

"When's the nearest flight to Charles de Gaulle?" asked Ariadne in a tired drawl. Time had caught on to her, draining away all of her energy, leaving her edgy and snappy.

"Well, there's a flight at 3:25 and there's also-" The blonde woman's voice began to grate Ariadne's ears.

"Look." Snapped Ariadne. "I just need to know when the nearest flight to Charles de Gaulle is. Don't tell me anything else. When is the nearest flight?"

The blonde woman looked visibly annoyed, her tone becoming bored and monotonous. "There's one boarding in around-"

"Great. I'll need a seat for one, thanks."

**-pointmanarchitect-**

Before the inception job, she was unpredictable, busy and always did things out of order. The young Architect had a routine now, a procedure, a pattern. She would sluggishly get out of bed, her body and mind working on autopilot as she grabbed clothes from her closet at random before trudging out of her apartment and on to campus. When her old friends asked her to hangout with them, the answer was always no. She preferred to sit on her sofa and watch crappy movies until it was dark. Even her teachers noticed a change in her. Ariadne still turned in her assignments on time but they were almost always too impractical, breaking budgetary constraints and going against the law of physics.

Five months had passed since the Fischer job. She tried to forget about dreams, inception, Cobb and …Arthur. Sometimes, she could still feel her lips burn when she thought about the chaste kiss they shared together.

When she walked from her little apartment to the campus, she would always see a sharply dressed man with slicked back hair lurking in the shadows but every time she looked back, he would disappear. She told herself not to be silly, that Arthur was probably halfway across the world right now with some beautiful, blonde bombshell.

**-pointmanarchitect-**

She picked up her bag, ready to go home when Miles told her to stay after class.

"Ariadne, I'm worried about you." He said softly. She thought he looked more like her grandpa than her professor.

"I'm really sorry, professor. I know my sketch was lacking in de-"

"No, no. Your work is great, as always. You are one of the best here, you know that right?"

She blushed and bit her lip, something that she always did when she was embarrassed.

Miles furrowed his brow and continued. "Now, there's no need to be embarrassed. Ariadne, I'm worried about you-"

She cut him off because really, all she wanted to do was go home. She wanted to go home and forget about her problems, forget about how distant she's been to her friends, forget about the job, forget about him.

"Me? There's absolutely nothing to be worried about. I'm fine. Really." she said earnestly.

With a sigh, Miles turned away from her and looked at the window, she followed suit. Light filtered in through the dirty glass, illuminating the dust particles. She gazed, entranced as the specks of dust danced around the room.

"Ariadne, the dream world is a very dangerous place. Beautiful and wondrous but highly addictive."

His words surprised her.

"Professor, I'm not add-"

"I know, dear." He turned to face her again. "There's someone here to see you, he's going to explain something to you. I'll leave you kids to it."

A multitude of thoughts ran through her head. Who would be here to see her? Maybe Fischer found out about the job and sent people to get her. But then again, Miles would never let that happen. Or maybe it was her parents, ready to whisk her away back home- they never did approve of her studying in Paris. Or perhaps it was Arthur, but she knew that it would never happen. Arthur played everything too safe to risk it just to see her.

"Ariadne?"

She gasped at the familiar voice. Perhaps she was wrong; perhaps he was here to see her after all.

"Arthur?"

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_A/N- I know this is quite short but I need to go now and I wanted to get it up today because I wont have access to a computer tomorrow. Ahh, I'm pretty shit at endings so there you go. I'm also pretty shit at updating but I'm trying to change that so let's hope that I have enough inspiration to finish this. Review if you want me to continue (:_


	2. Chapter 2

**Escapism.**

_Author's Note- Huh, I bet you thought I wouldn't update! But I did. And I'm pretty proud of myself for updating (: I don't have the best writing skills in the world and my work doesn't get beta-d so if you think I should work on something, just tell me in the reviews, thanks!_

_Disclaimer- Inception belongs to Chrisopher Nolan, but all of you already knew that right? You deserve to be slapped if you don't know whom Inception belongs to. If you haven't seen Inception yet then you deserve to be slapped and whacked, really. Sorry, it's kinda short._

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Taking a look at her confused state, a faint quirk of a smile appeared on his face. It was quickly gone though when he remembered that he was here to protect and to brief her, he had he to treat her like a co-worker and nothing more.

An awkward silence hung heavy in the air. The atmosphere of uneasiness was almost tangible as she studied his face- it was just as handsome as it was 5 months ago - and his attire. The Arthur that stood in front her was most certainly Arthur and yet, in some ways, he did not look like the straitlaced point man at all.

Gone were the three-piece suits. Instead, Arthur was wearing a shirt with his sleeves rolled- no, _folded_ back, Arthur would never _roll_ back his sleeves, it was far too messy for him. On top of his shirt sat a loosely tied tie, though she could tell that it was probably pressed flat. A sweater vest completed his ensemble.

_This must be his idea of casual_,she mused. The whole outfit made him look younger, as though he was fresh out of college instead of quickly approaching his thirties.

His hair seemed shorter, or perhaps it was the lack of gel and styling products that made it seem so. Shorter tufts of his hair hung down the front of his forehead whilst the rest was perfect tousled. The fact that Arthur's natural hair texture was wavy made Ariadne feel all happy inside, even though she was not sure why. Perhaps it was the thrill of seeing him looking _human_ for once. She also caught the oh-so-characteristic smirk hanging on his lips, which reminded her that no matter what he dressed or looked like, he was still the same Arthur.

Arthur cleared his throat, breaking the tense silence between them. Ariadne wanted to say something, but what could she say? She ran the possibilities through her head- _Why didn't you call? Where have you been? I've missed you. _

She settled for the most platonic option.

"Why are you here?"

A flicker of hurt flashed across his face before he composed himself back to his standard, no nonsense expression. It was quick, but Ariadne caught it. Arthur raised his right hand to the back of his neck to rub it, it was something that he did when he was worried.

"Can I talk to you in your apartment? We need to discuss this in a more…private place." He said, in a hushed voice as he surveyed different parts of the college through the large plane of glass.

Ariadne knitted her dark eyebrows in confusion. She knew that Arthur's visit was probably for work reasons more than personal reasons but she couldn't help but wonder why he had to be so secretive.

"Please, Ariadne."

Ariadne nodded, "But first, you have to tell me why you're dressed like..." she gestured at his clothes.

Arthur gave a small chuckle. "It's my cover. I'm here to protect you, Ari."

In normal situations, she would have laughed at the fact that he had a _ cover_ but she was too angry to laugh. Protect her? After mysteriously disappearing for five months he wants to jump right back in to her life and look after. _I don't think so,_ she thought.

"Protect me? I'm not five, Arthur. In case you've forgotten, I've been to Limbo and back; I don't think I need to be _looked after." _She said, with a huff.

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Look Ariadne, I know you're perfectly capable of looking after yourself in a normal situaton but this…this is not a normal situation." He dropped his voice. "You're not safe here."

"Not safe? Arthur, tell me what is going on!" she said, annoyed at all the secrecy.

"I will, Ari. Once we get to your apartment."

"Ari? Why do you call me that?"

Arthur was taken back at her question. Why did he call her Ari? It was too intimate, too close. His relationship with Ariadne was purely work-related, nothing more (Of course he wanted to be more than co-workers with Ariadne but she was not interested and couples and relationships don't mix well with their field of work.)

"Uh, um…"

Ariadne took glee in the fact that this was the first she had seen the ever-confident point man stutter.

"Go on."

"I didn't mean to call you that. I mean, it's just shorter, more convenient? If you don't like it then I won't call you Ari."

Shorter? More convenient? Was that really reason why he had called her that? She wasn't sure. Then again, Ariadne is sort of a mouthful.

"It's okay, you can call me Ari. If you let me call you Artie."

"Artie? You can't be serious."

Ariadne laughed at his reply.

"I was just joking. Don't you ever joke?"

This earned her a raised eyebrow from 'Artie'.

"Okay, never mind I asked."

**-pointmanarchitect-**

They walked together in a comfortable silence as the hustle and bustle of college rushed around them- students were rushing around with textbooks and papers in their arms, couples were huddling in different corners of the grounds whilst other students gave furtive glances towards Arthur and Ariadne. Ella, Ariadne's housemate was one of them.

"Ariadne!"

She grimaced at the sound of Ella's voice. Ella's great but she had the tendency to be very nosy and loud at the most inconvenient of times.

Arthur stopped and she turned around.

She tried not to squeek when Arthur closed the space between them by taking hold of her hand.

"Ella, hi."

Ella gave Ariadne a pointed look that meant- _Hey! Introduce me to him! He's cute, if you don't want him, I'll take him._ Ariadne was surprised at how much a look could tell her but then again, anyone could read Ella like an open book, which meant that Arthur would be able to read Ella extremely well.

"Arthur, this is Ella, my housemate. Ella, this is Arthur."

"Pleased to meet you, Ella."

"Likewise."

He gave her his free hand and he could just feel the excitement bursting out of her body. He smirked in amusement of the situation.

"So, are you guys like…together?" she asked, looking at their intertwined hands with great interest.

Ariadne opened her mouth to say no, to tell Ella not to be silly but before she could say all those things, Arthur gave her a look that meant j_ust go along with this._

Arthur gave Ella a small smile and replied simply.

"Yes, we are."

Ariadne froze._ No! We weren't together! So why did Arthur say we were? Oh god, Ella's never gonna shut up now._

Arthur felt Ariadne freeze up next to him and he wondered if he had done the right thing. It was too late now to change what he said anyway. He gave her a small smile, trying to convey the message to her, to tell her to play along. Ariadne relaxed and smiled at Ella who was looking very excited and confused at the same time.

"I knew it! You told me you were interning for a firm! You were just out prancing with…Arthur, weren't you?" she asked, her eyes dancing with excitement.

Arthur chuckled at her choice of words and Ariadne turned as red as a tomato. She could feel the heat rising up to her face.

"Actually, we met at the firm."

Of course Arthur had all the right answers.

"Ohhh. So where are you from?" she asked, suspicious.

"New York."

"So why are you here? Are you here just to be with Ariadne?" Ella gave a furtive glance at the messenger bag that Arthur was carrying- it looked as though it was carrying tons and tons of paper…and possibly a textbook? (Little did she know that all the paper and books inside his bag were about Robert Fischer and other various marks.)

"Well, I'm doing a Post Grad course here." He lied smoothly, as if he had practiced this before. Ariadne wondered if he had, it was probably part of his cover anyway.

"On what?" she asked, almost as if she was interrogating him.

"Architecture."

Ariadne had to suppress her giggles at the thought of Arthur doing a Post Grad course on Architecture. Everything he built would be linear, straight, clean and well…not very interesting. (Not that he wasn't interesting … he was plenty interesting to Ariadne) Arthur would play everything too safe, he would never build anything creative or innovative.

"Oh. Okay, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone then!" She then ran off to fuel the gossip between the students.

"Why…why did you say that we were together?" asked a bashful Ariadne.

"Well, it'll make my job and cover much more believable, I think."

Right. Of course it was for his _job_ and his _cover._

"You okay?"

No, she was not okay. She wanted them to actually be together, not to pretend and not to make up stupid lies for jobs and covers.

"Yeah, of course I am. You do realise that Ella is never gonna shut up about it now, especially when you mysteriously disappear again."

Arthur frowned. He knew that it must have been difficult for her, with all the team members leaving without a substantial goodbye but what could he do? Team members rarely came in contact with each other outside of jobs, it was just the way things worked. But she was young, inexperienced, he knew that she had grown to treat the team like a family.

"It get's easier."

"What does?"

"Saying goodbye."

Ariadne winced at his choice of words. She didn't want it to get easier, she didn't want to say goodbye at all, goddammit.

Arthur let her contemplate in silence as they continued to walk back to her apartment, both very aware of the fact that their hands were still entwined with each other's.

**-pointmanarchitect-**

"Sorry for the mess… I haven't had the time to clean it. Ella isn't exactly a neat freak either."

"No, it's fine. It's very cozy, I like it."

Arthur looked around the apartment, amused at Ariadne's hesitance. Rulers and pens were scattered across the whole room, carving knives were on the floor and a laptop sat on the coffee desk, it was still on and the monitor showed a fancy CAD program. A florally bed spread was haphazardly strewn on top of the couch and there was eraser dust all over the dining table. It was very Ariadne.

He went over to her television and looked through her film collection. A certain title caught his interest.

"Une Liaison pornographique?" said Arthur with a smirk on his face. And of course, his French was perfect.

Ariadne turned bright red. It was quite a sight for the point man, who found himself beaming at her.

"I know the title sounds…dodgy but it's a good film!" she said, trying to justify herself.

"I never pegged you as the porno type. Are you even old enough to buy porn?" teased Arthur.

"It's not a porno! And yes, I'm old enough." Replied Ariadne, _did she really look that young?_

"Oh, so you've done it before?"

"Oh god. I don't think we're here to talk about me and my experiences with porn."

"Oh, so you've had experiences."

"Arthur!"

"Relax, I was just…what do you call it? Oh yeah, joking. Plus, I've watched it before."

"You? You watch romance films?"

"Hey, it wasn't my choice. My sister used to always make me watch films with her, especially after a bad breakup. I don't know why she does it since she always feels worse after watching them."

"All right… if you say so. I bet you liked it.

"No."

"So, tell me about your experiences with porn." Said Ariadne with a a hint of mischief gleaming in her eyes.

"Never watched porn."

"Ever?"

"Nope."

"Wow.

**-pointmanarchitect-**

"So tell me. Why are you here?"

"Look, Fischer's in Paris right now. I don't know if he's here because he found out or if he's just here for a holiday or business trip. The most important thing is to keep you safe."

"Why aren't you keeping Eames safe? Why me?"

"You're in Paris, he's not. Plus, Eames hides and runs on a daily basis. You, on the other hand just got dragged in to this whole mess. I need you to be careful, okay? Keep your totem around with you at all times. I'll try my best to keep my eye on you at all times. I'm actually enrolled in all the same classes as you."

"But you told Ella…"

"Ella studies Art History. She won't find out."

"How did you know-"

"Details are my thing, remember?"

"How could I forget? And why are you pretending to be boyfriend again? You know my friends will kill me for not telling them about you?"

"So that I can protect you outside of classes without seeming like a psychotic stalker."

"So what do I tell them when you leave? That we 'broke up'?"

"Precisely. And Ariadne? Goodbyes aren't always a bad thing. Sometimes, people need to let go because they care about you."

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_A/N- Hope you liked it, sorry it took so long for me to update! Oh and __Une Liaison pornographique is called An Affair of Love in English. My cousin recommended it to me __so I thought I'd put that in, haha. _

"_Don't let the ironic French title put you off; this is a beautiful, erotic love story about two people who meet looking for anonymous sex but end up finding much more. A beautiful and mysterious tale of love."_

_Yeah, that's what it's about. And no, I don't own it. _


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